Any Of These Phrases Should Have Alerted Staples That There Is A Problem Here. None Did.

By alexchasickApril 1, 2008

Reader Karen writes in:

I bought a small but overpriced postal scale at Staples ($22). When I took it home and opened the box, there was a broken, not-for-sale scale in it. I took it back and exchanged it for another one without any problem. But it’s a crappy scale even when it’s functional: it’s not set at 0 and I don’t see a way to resetit.

Seriously, Staples? Do you also send cardboard cutouts of computers to people? How could it possibly be any clearer that this should never have left the store? Commenters, any suggestions?(Thanks to Karen!)

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“How could it possibly be any clearer that this should never left the store? Commenters?”

Who’s saying that Staples opened the box? Otherwise how would they know what was inside? It COULD have come from the distributor that way. Was there any indication on the outside of the box? Is that a sticker that Staples puts on display items, or did it come that way?

“How could it possibly be any clearer that this should never have left the store? Commenters, any suggestions?”

Very simple: Staples’ low-paid employees just plain don’t care. Putting this thing out for sale is an easy way to keep busy under the watch of one’s superiors and, thus, not get sacked for lazing about.

Honestly, haven’t we all known that guy at work who was happier just LOOKING busy than he was BEING busy?

@ClankBoomSteam: It isn’t at all possible this was an honest mistake? One employee puts the display scale in a box (no I don’t know why, but it is possible), another thinks its a sellable item and places it on the shelf?

Person purchases a boxed product (I assume it rang up without a problem)

Person takes product home and finds a “display only” that is non-functional

Person returns product and gets correct “Sales friendly” version

Profit?

I don’t really see how staples should be a bad guy in this. If they refused to return it and or gave crap for returning it then by all means but staples is not going to open every product they sell, that would create a major problem for those customers who want the new product feel (or don’t trust the open box things)

Since when is the new standard of retail to be perfect?
Since when is anyone perfect?

I work in retail and I know that when display models get banged up, we order new ones so they don’t look all shabby on the shelf, but the display versions of these products are not always clearly marked the vendor, so it is very possible for it to get mixed in with the regularly stocked product.

The employees at Staples corrected their mistake without any grief. I don’t see any real problem. There was no ploy or conspiracy to exploit some hapless consumer. It was just an honest mistake.

It looks like this reader is just looking to troll about something, and it’s kind of sad that the Consumerist bought into it. Usually they have a high standard for articles…

Actually, the display models of scales are the best deals out there! I talked a manager into selling me one from a discontinued model for $5 (compared to $130) and all I had to do was wire up a 9-volt connector….viola! Perfectly good 125lb digital scale!

@modenastradale: I was asking for suggestions for even less suitable products, like a cardboard cutout of a monitor. I did this because it seems like half the readers like these bad company stories–they’re the ones emailing them to us; and half the readers hate them. Perhaps they’re taking them seriously. So, I figured asking for suggestions would mix it up a little and give them something to write besides “slow news day?” and “why is this on Consumerist?”

Actually, I have to admit, I misread the “Commenters, any suggestions?” as coming from the OP herself. I couldn’t figure out why she wanted suggestions when she wasn’t in any sort of predicament. :-)

So, as for suggestions of the type you’re talking about: I think not-for-resale postal scales and cardboard cutouts are TAME compared to the poopy shorts Old Navy was selling a while back. I mean really — that takes the prize for “item that never should have left the store.”

(I also once opened up a Happy Meal when I was a kid, and found a small dead animal inside. That was pretty scarring. Too bad the ‘rents didn’t think about lawsuits… ;-))

I heart Staples. This happens from time to time. I bought a DVD burner at our Staples once, got it home, and when I opened it I found a 3.5/5.25 combo disk drive in the box with a little piece of paper that said “HP DVD Drive” on it. The box looked for all the world like all the other ones on the shelf when I bought it – no packing tape, broken seals, or anything like that.

I suppose it helps if you’re a local customer they just did business with maybe 20 minutes ago, but I had no problem exchanging it. I had to explain to the clerk exactly what that was in the box, because she had never even seen a 5.25 floppy disk in the flesh, let alone a drive that had a slot for one.

I will say this — Sometimes the vendors don’t do a good job labelling these things. I sold a printer before that was supposed to be a display model (it was gutted) and the only indication on an IDENTICAL BOX to the normal retail version was the words “Demo Use Only” in smallish print on the bottom of the box. Come on…At least put it in different packaging or something. I could easily see a normal retail employee putting this on the shelf on accident.

I want to be clear…after the Consumerist posted the “don’t blame the ‘victim'” article, I want to take this opportunity to note that I am not blaming the victim, I am blaming the Consumerist. Why would you post this? They exchanged it without issue…so, where is the issue?

This story is one which makes me think of the posterior end of a rodent with which I could no care.

@highland04: I’ve known plenty of goldbricks who were content to do what they felt like, wandering around a store LOOKING like they were working, when in fact they were just passing the time until they were off the clock. I’m betting most of the people here who have worked in retail at some point in the past (or present) have known someone like that.

As for activity like this reflecting on someone more poorly than not looking busy, you’re assuming that the individual in question will get caught ~ which I would think would be unlikely, since it would pretty much be anyone’s guess who had put out the scale for sale.

Sorry, but I’m sticking to my guns on this one — especially since I’ve been in more than a few Staples stores in my day, and I can say with unmitigated confidence that the employees just plain couldn’t care less about anything that goes on in the store, unless it affects them or their break time.

Hey all of you readers who are only looking for outrageous tales of corporate malfeasance, and who crap all over anything that doesn’t pass your “worthy content” litmus test: sometimes the things we run are absurd or funny and not tragic or anger-inducing. That doesn’t make them less newsworthy. I, for one, frakkin LOVE this photo. What kind of absolute moron misses a sticker that big, with THREE different “do not sale” messages on it? It’s absurdist retail humor at its finest. Where else on the web should it be posted, if not Consumerist?

The site is stronger for having a mix of content, from insurance companies killing kids through their bookkeepers (not very funny) to ridiculous shipping experiences (funnier than lethal insurance, that’s for sure), and augmented by a lively commenter crowd. But your “snark” is anything but clever when you trot out tired old lines like “slow news day” or “quota post”–spend a week or two on one of the truly snarky sites like Jezebel or Gawker to see some examples of how high the bar has been set for commenter wit. It’s pretty impressive, and those barbs, references, and callbacks actually enhance the post instead of detracting from it. The highest quality comments we get here usually contain useful information that helps out future readers. On a post like this, we don’t really need any help, so just… I dunno, is it too much to ask for some funny? Some of y’all are really funny.

If you’re not funny, and sometimes get angry at a post but not for any good reason, try just skipping it and not commenting. You don’t have to go all Hot or Not on every damned post.

Correction: some of you left anecdotes and stories that added to this photo, by explaining your own situations. Those are always great comments too because they help strengthen the context and give a bigger picture to other readers (and to us). Yay anecdotes.